Reveal Day: What I Learned From My First Design Market Trip

So I’ve finally had the chance to sit down and collect my thoughts from attending my first High Point Market. As some of you may know I’m also hosting an epic virtual conference for creatives so time has been extremely limited lately.

If you are not familiar with Market, it’s basically the home furnishings capital of the world! Well, let me scale it back a little and say for the States anyway. It’s a 5-day event that happens every Spring and Fall in High Point, North Carolina. Over the course of five days you will experience a mix of CEU sessions, celebrity design sightings, showroom tours, trendsetters and style spotters events and a slew of social events.

If you are in the interiors field and never had the chance to attend I highly recommend that you try to make the trip soon. So read ahead as I highlight all of the insight I gained from attending educational seminars and networking events…

Passion Sucks. It’s All About the Money!

Takeaways:

It’s a common belief that creatives are not smart with their money and suffer from a lack of business know-how

Staging is the best kept secret for designers but it’s recommended to own your furniture

Much of your emphasis should be on increasing revenue. The panel discussed a mix of pricing strategies: making at least 20-40% on a project with mark-ups ranging between 35-50% and some hourly fees around $250.

Project minimums were discussed where some panelists have a min. of $20k for high-profile projects

Know when it’s time to hire your first employee and hire staff with skills that complement what you are not good at doing

Need more tips to help with your design biz, sign up fir the Interior Decorating Business Blueprint: From Hobby to Profits. A 5-module program sharing strategies from over 25 experts to help you build your design story, speed business growth, spur creativity, and boost revenue.